Nov 27, 2010

In the Philippines, adobo refers to the process of stewing chicken or pork in vinegar and a soy based sauce with lots of garlic. As this simmers, your kitchen will be filled with an intoxicating sweet and sour aroma that will leave you anxious to eat.

My friend Liren of Kitchen Confidante was so gracious to share her family recipe with me, which I slightly modified to reduce the fat. I served this over brown basmati rice which made this a complete meal. It's recommended marinating this overnight but if you're pressed for time, at least one hour before cooking. I always use dark meat when making stew; legs and thighs both work well.

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and didn't eat too much! I know a lot of you are excited about the new Weight Watcher point system debuting this month, I've been getting lots of email asking about how I will adjust my recipes and points, which I answered here. Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Marinate chicken in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, jalapeño and pepper, for at least an hour (overnight is ideal).

Add chicken, 1/2 cup water, bay leaves and marinade into a deep nonstick skillet and cook on medium-low heat. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the cover and cook an additional 15 minutes, until the sauce reduces. Discard bay leaves and serve over rice.

Hi Gina, as always, WOW, this recipe looks fantastic!!!I have made your no bake cheesecake for a dinner party tonight and the licks on my finger before it went onto the crust told me it'll be a HUGE hit. I'm sure some of my blog readers will request the recipe. Mind if I put a link to your site on today's post?? (ps: I told my W W group about your site, and they LOVE it...thank you from us all!!!) Roz

This is almost exactly how I've been making it for a few years now! My grandma has always been able to make it without measurements, but I don't have that skill yet! I'm liking the jalapeno idea! My husband thinks I make this too much, so he will like that added ingredient! I also add a little bit of no cal sugar ;-)

I was just thinking it would be a great slow cooker recipe. I have it marinating right now for tomorrow. I had thought about leaving the water out also and just read that Gina suggested that!!!I will report with my results :)

We just finished this for dinner and it was fantastic!!! I even misread the recipe and only used one CLOVE of garlic! LOL Looking forward to making it again, the correct way! I use your recipes about 4 times a week! Thank you..keep 'em coming!!

I'm half Filipino and chicken adobo is my favorite food. Chicken adobo resembles our country and you can't deny the fact that this tastes really good, especially the sauce. I often drizzle it on my rice. Yum!

I was also wondering if you were going to revise your points values with the new points plus values. For those of us following the plan these points values will no longer work, however; we could rebuild the recipe in the our tracker ourselves. Love your site!

Oh my! Just finished cleaning my plate! This might be my new favorite way to cook chicken! Ive never had these flavor combinations and it was insanely delicious! My boyfriend is now in love with you Gina! He said to thank you for turning me into the best cook ever! lol! Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes and information! xoxoxo

I made this last night, it was a family hit! I blogged about it today, here's the link if you'd like to take a look :) Thanks for the great recipes Gina! http://andrea-thekitchenwitch.blogspot.com/2010/12/filipino-adobo-drumsticks.html

My husband is half Filipino and he says he likes mine better than his Mom's. Which is a real compliment since I am not Filipino. Our preference is to use regular soy sauce, but add water. Sometimes the full soy/vinegar mixture can be too strong. We don't add jalepeno, but peppercorns. I use boneless, skinless chicken thighs and don't marinate them. I just put it all in the pot, bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for a couple of hours. The chicken is amazingly tender.

One thing I have learned about Adobo, is that every Filipino makes their's a little differently. That is the great thing about this recipe! Not to mention it is comfort food at it's finest. Thanks for sharing this great recipe, Gina. You are awesome!

I made this for dinner tonight & it was a hit - with my kids too! Loved how easy it was - and super low in points. Served it with some plain quinoa that was leftover from when I made your quinoa risotto Monday night. (I made your turkey & black bean enchiladas again last night!). Can you tell that I love your website & recipes? Keep up the GREAT work!

Oh, Gina! I have to try this one SOON! I was looking at your comments and I see that everyone raves about it too. And you are SO nice, you always answer people's questions. God bless you, woman! :)Best,Gloria

It was yet another Gina night in our household tonight! :) This was delicious. I used boneless skinless thighs and no jalapeno since my toddler was eating it also. Big hit with all of us! Served over basmati rice, as you suggested. My favorite part about this recipe is that it just could not be easier. 5 minutes of prep! Thanks!!

Gina - I just finished the drumsticks I made last week( double batch) At it with some white corn polenta that really calmed down the strongness of the flavor (which I LOVE). I just bought a new batch of thighs to try out! My next feat will be to try it with breasts but leaving the skin on so they dont dry out - but taking the skin off once they are done and leaving the bone in of course. I love this recipe. Economical and great tasting. You rock. Stumbled this for sure.

I can not wait to try this! Going to make it for dinner tomorrow. Love your website. It's so hard to find recipes that are healthy and also something my family would like. Dishes that aren't so boring. So glda to have found your blog! :)

We love chicken adobo! our comfort food. I cooked it once a week and my family loves it! i am a filipina and married to a french man. My husband and daughter loves to pour adobo sauce over their rice or even on pasta. Thanks for the lovely photo makes us crave for it now! yum! :)

This recipe was amazing. I didn't use the pepper and used coarsely ground pepper instead of peppercorn. My husband and I both enjoyed it very much. I made brown rice as a side. Gina, thank you so much for posting wonderful recipes. I am looking forward to making more of them. I have made 2 of them, and they are more than I had hoped for.

I made this for dinner tonight and my entire family loved it! I made the recipe exactly as it says (with jalapenos) and even my 6 and 10 year olds loved it! It wasn't all that spicy, but the flavor was amazing! I had 2 legs w/a large baked potato for a low point meal. Thank you so much for the recipe!

Made this recipe with boneless skinless thighs and marinated overnight. I did find the vinegar a little overpowering even over the rice, so next time I will tweak to a little less. I have GERD so I have to watch my acidity levels anyway. But everything else was delicious. Garlic added such flavor. YUM! Will def be adding this to week night rotation! TY Gina!

I'm a career Firefighter (the only chick at work) and made this for the guys. They LOVED IT! It was a complete HIT! Will be making this again at the firehouse! Thanks Gina! Love your site, and the guys at work do to!

I made this dish last night for me and my husband, and it was yummy. I served it with white rice. I was only able to marinade the chicken for an hour, but I bet the longer you leave it, the better it tastes.

Just had this for dinner! Marinated the chicken for most of the day, but didn't use any jalepeno. It smelled great and tasted even better. We had it with rice and broccoli and the sauce complimented both very well. We'll definitely make this again!

I am Filipino and I have to say this is pretty close to the original version. Of course adobo is a very regional dish in the Philippines so it does vary from region to region (or should I say island to island) but this is close to what I grew up eating. I'm happy to know I can eat my own delicacy and know the point conversion!

I love your website and thank you so much for the wonderful recipes!!!!

i'm filipino and i had no idea this was a low cal meal. super excited about it. and i always skin the chicken too!!! i always add onions to mine and use vinegar from an asian market and reg soy sauce. and the hard boiled eggs in it is awesome too!!!i'm thinking of making this tonight or your asian glazed chicken (which is very similar to chix adobo)!

So I made this tonight and it came out fantastic (I'm Filipino so I know how it should originally taste)!! I made a separate marinade and the actual ingredients I simmered with the meat, after I seared the meat first. I have to say, I usually use Coconut sap vinegar and regular soy sauce but the apple cider vinegar and the low-sodium (I love Trader Joe's)soy sauce works beautifully!!

Like the other person who made a comment, I also started out with onions with the garlic because that's what my mom and grandma always started with. I made mine with skinless thighs with the bone because the bone definitely makes a big difference in flavor. Pretty darn close to my mom's and grandmother's =D

This was INSANELY delicious. I actually browned the drumsticks in some hot olive oil while the sauce reduced at the end. Then I cooked some couscous with stock in the same pan I browned the chicken in, the brown bits stuck to the bottom added so much flavor to the couscous. Grilled up some asparagus. It was a hit at my dinner party.

This was amazing! It was so easy to make and tasted wonderful. My roommates and I are getting healthy and eating our way thorough your recipes, Julia/Julia style. Thanks Gina for allowing us to eat so well and loss the weight!

I have this cOoking on the stove right now. After reading all these reviews and smelling it cooking Downstairs I'm starting to get really excited! I've been using this website a lot lately. It never hurts to eat healthier! I'll continue to comment on the recipes I've tried. As well as Leave a final review for this one once I try it!

Well this came out alright for me..: but it was my fault. I read the recipe wrong also and only added 2 clove of garlic. Then I got sidetracked and burnt it! So I remade the sauce and it was okay. I want to make this again.... The right way!

Hi Gina, I've been bookmarking your recipes and following your blog for a while now but this is the first one I've actually gotten round to making and it's absolutely amazing! Great flavours and I served it with rice and mixed vegetables so it's all round healthy!

You have the best healthy/weight watchers blog out there so thank you very much for it :)

I made this for dinner tonight..was yummy.. I only had 3 drumsticks and doubled the liquid except for the water...used ground garlic and a lotta ground pepper and a few jalapeno's ... I'll for sure cook this again.

I also cooked for 30 mins with the lid and 10 minutes without since I had less chicken than the recipe.. I let marinate for about 2-3 hours

Hi, Gina. Will you double check the Points+ value? I just put the recipe in recipe builder and it gave me 5 Points+. Regardless of the points, this recipe is amazing! I made this a few nights ago and it was a hit. I know I should make some of your other recipes--and I will--but I'm making this recipe again tonight. Thank you!

I LOVE this recipe. Have made it at least five times and it's a hit. I was a little afraid of chicken legs -- but they are perfect, and really very easy to shred after simmering. Over rice with a streak of sriracha,it present a beautiful company-worth dish!

Gina,Always looking for low-cal recipes and because my family loves culturally diverse food, I knew we had to try this one. I made mine with 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (no one here likes dark meat), prepared the recipe according to your crock pot instructions. I cooked it on low for about 5 hours, turned it down to "warm" for 2 hours and about a half hour before serving, turned it back up to low to make sure everything was nice and hot. Served it with brown rice made with 95% fat free chicken broth in my rice cooker and steamed broccoli. Kids said they would eat it again and hubby RAVED about it! Thanks Lady!!! Excellent taste, amazing low-cal addition to anyone's diet! My siamese cats were crowding hubby's plate because they wanted a taste too!

I am SO EXCITED to use this recipe! My boyfriend and his family are from the philippines, so I've grown to love all of the food, but this is by far one of my favorite dishes(:I can't wait to cook this for everyone, THANK YOU! :D

Love chicken and pork adobo. My mom is full Filipino and does variations of this, sometimes throwing in some potatoes. It's not a very colorful dish so sometimes she threw in frozen peas and chopped potatoes, and with the pork she throws in potatoes and chopped red pepper...probably some ploy to get me to eat some veggies when I was little but I still love it 30 years later. I love the sauce and always make extra to spoon over my rice.

Yum! I love chicken adobo and always try different recipes. Your recipe is very similar to mine, can't wait to try it, thanks!http://www.cookeatdelicious.com/filipino-recipes/filipino-chicken-adobo-recipe.html

Oh my goodness!!!! This was amazing. We cooked this tonight I excluded the jalapeno and added 1 large shallot finely diced. Threw the whole thing in the slow cooker on low for 6 hours (my slow cooker is rather quick). Served it with rice with a few big handfuls of finely cut spinach stirred through the rice.

Literally have this in the pot right now and my mouth is watering. If it tastes half as good as it smells, it is going to be awesome! Just one more of your recipes that I've tried.. based on those I know I will not be disappointed!

I made this recipe with my husband and was shocked at how good it was. We are both working really hard to lose weight!! We marinated the chicken overnight, which really allowed the flavor to get into it. I am not a big teriyaki, soy sauce flavoring fan so I wasn't sure if I was going to like this. My husband came up with a really ingenious addition to the recipe, after the chicken is cooked he took some water (maybe a quarter cup) and some honey (couple of tablespoons). He poured the honey into the water and mixed it to dilute the honey some and poured the honey/water mixture over the chicken it was like a glaze, it made the chicken taste sweet and savory.

I've only made this recipe once, but it was amazing! I am going to make it again soon. I always wonder about the authenticity of ethnic recipes when I make them. I work with several Filipinos, and I am lucky enough to have had homemade chicken adobo from two of them. This recipe tastes the same as theirs, if not better! Excellent, excellent recipe!

Any tips to remove the skin from the chicken legs more effeciently? That's pretty time consuming.

For anyone looking to make this in the crockpot - I cooked on low for about 4 1/2 hours and it was perfect. Cooking for 8+ will make the meat fall off the bone, but personally, I like my drumsticks to still be a bit firm so I can pick up and eat. Try it!

Has anyone ever made this using a whole chicken and a pressure cooker? I was thinking about using double (or even triple) the amount of liquid. My hubby is not a dark meat fan so I'm trying to please everyone! Thanks for all of your help.

For those who are not on diet and would like to try the other version, make it "chicken-pork adobo". Best pork cut is liempo or pork belly (cut into cubes). And also use chicken wings and legs with the skin on. Add a tsp of sugar while simmering and a pinch or two of MSG. Once cooked add boiled eggs. And use steaming white rice or Japanese rice. Your man will surely enjoy this sin full version. (Most man are not into weight watchers thingy, hehe...)

Im a Filipina, this is a great recipe! you can add stevia or pineapple chunks to make it sweet. We also sometimes add hard boiled egg or potato&carrots. Adobo is usually served with rice. In my Father's region they put a cucumber salad (chopped cucumber, vinegar, crushed black pepper and sugar) on the side. Just try it, its heaven! While my Mother's region, they only put a small amount of vinegar, add a green chili, ginger and coconut milk! This version is also a staple in my home, husband's love it!

Being half filipino, I grew up eating adobo. Unfortunately I don't get to eat it very often anymore. I've attempted making it before, and it's been nice, but I could never get it to taste exactly the same as my mum's. This recipe gets pretty close.

When I first read this recipe I was worried that it wouldn't be saucey enough, as both my partner and I ADORE the sauce and love to drizzle it over our rice, however I was pleasantly surprised - there was tonnes of sauce! The sauce didn't thicken up as much as I would have liked. My mum often adds cornflour to thicken the sauce right up, so I might do that next time. I used regular soy sauce as being brought up on regular soy sauce I just can't tolerate salt reduced soy sauce. I served mine with half a cup of white steamed rice and a big serving of steamed green beans; a delicious and complete meal. This recipe is also VERY cheap - I usually have all the ingredients in my cupboard apart from the drumsticks, which themselves are very cheap. I can't wait to make this one again and again.

I want to make this in a crockpot and add potatoes to it. When should I add the potatoes? Should I brown the meat first? Can I use the marinade that the meat was marinating in, or should I make a separate batch of marinade to put into the crockpot?